To spend £700 a year on kitchen roll?

[Stellenbosch]

Yes, I fucking am?!

WTF, how can I cut down on usage? For my bank balance and the environment! .

In my defence I do have a toddler and a rather large family, but still, go through £2 a day worth of the stuff!

I hate dish cloths, they seem so inefficient and full of bacteria!

Help?! Hints?! Tips?!

Who are these adults who need napkins? Are they eating by throwing food at their faces and hoping?
An able bodied adult should be able to without making a mess.

What if you get food round your mouth? What do you wipe it on?

Genuinely hasn't been a big enough issue as an adult to consider buying household linens specifically for that purpose.

I don't know anyone who uses napkins domestically, paper or otherwise.

I have 12 white flannels bought off Amazon. I use a clean one every morning in a bowl of dilute antibacterial kitchen cleaner. I change the water and cloth a few times a day and just sling them in with my white loads. Much more efficient, very hygienic and way cheaper.

I don’t use napkins every day, but I do have some linen ones which have been in use for years.

I have dozens of tea towels. They get washed and dried and used for everything in the kitchen, again, they last years and then get relegated to the bathroom or on dog wiping duty.
Kitchen roll last ten days or so.

Seriously this napkin thing is blowing my mind

When I get food round my mouth I might use a square of kitchen roll. Not many people have said they never use kitchen roll. Just that they don't use two rolls a day (or anywhere near that!). I think I use one roll in a month.

I myself have used a square of kitchen roll today, though in fact I tore it in two and used it for two different things

This is hilarious! I buy paper towels once a year at Christmas as we use them when we cook and to cover things. Even that's wasteful!

I am desperate to know what you use it all for! I just can't begin to understand!

I have a baby who is doing baby led weaning so the mess is massive! I just use cloths and spray. They then get thrown straight in the washing machine for when I do my next wash. Really messy ones get soaked!

And who uses napkins? I feel like I'm in a very different lifestyle!

I am crying here at "well hmmmph what on earth am I supposed to use as napkins then? ". I'm imagining she's rolling her eyes as she says that thinking we're all idiots.

@mugglemum

If you think advocating consideration and personal responsibility puts me on a high horse, you need to take a good hard look at yourself. I don’t give a shit about other people’s personal habits, except when it comes to the environment and climate change. YOUR actions affect ME, and worse still they affect people all around the world who are a whole lot less well off than me and, I think, you.

Your saying I’m sitting on a high horse by wanting to consider others is every shade of selfish, ignorant and shameful. There is literally NO excuse for anyone in the Western world to be wasteful with natural resources.

Do you let the tap run while you brush your teeth? Fill the bath full? Use plastic straws and plastic cutlery or disposable cups? Leave the car engine running unnecessarily? Have the heating on when windows are open? Run the tumble dryer in the summer? Waste food?

Pretty much! With the exception of filling the bath full.

@Skylucy Thu 25-Oct-18 12:56:46
Things I've found helpful: Cheeky Wipes! Great for cleaning food from surfaces/highchairs/baby hands and faces. I've completely eradicated my use of wet wipes thanks to these.

I've just looked those up. You can do that yourself for much, much less. Just get a klip-lock food saver and put some flannels in it. They don't seem to supply solution, just essential oils. You could just put some soapy water and a drop of your own essential oils in the tub and save a fortune.

I've been meaning to do this myself for ages actually, since I saw it on crafty or whatever page it was.

No. Yes. Have no shower. Getting one fitted in renovation. No except for very occasional party and usually use paper ones. No. No. No. and sometimes but I try not to and I compost.

@MaxTeyon

Are you ok with that? Proud of that? Does it make you feel richer/carefree/something else to do these things and not feel any level of shame or embarrassment?

I do buy the cheeky wipes oil stuff because I like the smell, but they go in a square clip lock tub.

I’m absolutely fine with that, I guess my feelings would best be described as ambivalent. I have more important things to worry about, but always happy to consider alternatives that are more convenient.

Proud of being stupid? I mean, leaving the heating on with the windows is just plain stupid.

I don't make a mess but sometimes I'm eating with my fingers and like a napkin, mainly so I can read or MN at the same time, if I'm honest. Or if I take a massive bite of an overfilled sandwich and get it all round my chops, which happens quite often, I must admit.

Microfibre Dishcloths all the way here. I've got loads from Aldi and i've colour coded them so

Red- toilet
Blue- general bathroom
Green - kitchen
Yellow- dusting

I use a fresh one every day and they all get washed at 90. There's nothing unhygenic about it.

Proud of being stupid? I mean, leaving the heating on with the windows is just plain stupid.

For us it’s the back door due to the dog pushing it open. Heating the back garden is a running joke in our house.

I have more important things to worry about

What could possibly be more important?

Hope you haven't got kids, Max. You're merrily destroying the planet for them.

@MaxTeyon

Your ambivalence is costing other people dearly (not just YOU, of course, all of us collectively). Your ambivalence is a selfish indulgence.

Are you saying it’s too inconvenient for you to turn the tap off while you brush your teeth? To turn the car off while you empty the boot? To only half full the bath rather than all the way? To eat food before it goes off, be organised about it?

Fuck that's a lot of waste!
As previously suggested, microfiber clothes, launder daily or weak bleach baths after using.

I’ve never bought kitchen roll in my life.
Eight hundred pounds is a very lovely dress...or an awful lot of expensive lipsticks...

I can’t stand a half full bath. But I’m putting in shower when I do the bathroom after Christmas